Going to disk, what do y'all recommend

[John_parkeriv]

Howdy y'all,
Doing a shake down run on my 66 on my street. Hydroboost but stock brakes. Testing regular braking and emergency braking. Normal braking really isn't great, and anything over 25% pedal makes all four wheels lock up. My guess is the poor little 66 10" drums can't handle the 35's . Looking at going to disks to help solve the problem. Had a few in mind, but I'm wanting to see what y'all think (If you think that's the problem at all). Any experience, headaches, or praises of any kit would be appreciated.

Originally wanted to do the Ch*vy swap, but 4x4 blazers and K10's are LONG since gone from my local boneyards and marketplace.

Thanks!

 

[DirtDonk]

But that doesn’t mean the correct parts aren’t still available. Brand new.
Just harder to find in the boneyard.
I prefer the Ford brakes myself. Preferably the standard truck ones, since they seem to balance really well with the rear drums. They can also be quickly upgraded to the larger passenger car calipers.
Short of that, because caliper brackets are even harder to find than the Chevy stuff, Duff has a really great Ford-based set up, you can buy a complete.
If I remember, it’s by far the most expensive, but it’s also one way to get you all brand new Ford type stuff.
The GM stuff is still a viable alternative and it’s what we sell. It’s also the most budget friendly (if you can call it that!) of the well-known kits.
There are some new ones on the market that I’m not sure we’ve heard much about around here. Just some initial inquiries, then, crickets.
Some of them look very promising though.

Good luck. Lots of good info around here and I’m sure someone knows of those other products.

 

[nvrstuk]

I don't understand what the problem is if the setup you have now will lock up all four corners at 25%???

Here's what I read, "Normal braking really isn't great, and anything over 25% pedal makes all four wheels lock up. My guess is the poor little 66 10" drums can't handle the 35's . Looking at going to disks to help solve the problem"

If you can lock up all 4 with 25% pedal (I"m assuming pressure with your leg at 25%) but you want discs so you can still lock up your brakes but take more leg pressure to do it. ????
Discs take more pressure than drums. If your little 10" drums can lock up the tires on asphalt with as little as 25% pedal effort they are working GREAT.

What are you trying to improve? Braking effort or something else? Keeping all 4 corners from locking up will decrease your stopping distance- that's ABS.

 

[DirtDonk]

Maybe it’s the overall feel? Where it goes from mediocre to locked up without much in between?

 

[nvrstuk]

That could be- good idea Paul. I'm not sure who would recommend putting a HB on a 4 wheeled drum brake vehicle? Just don't need the pressure like you do with a 30,000# loaded SuperDuty with dics.

 

[John_parkeriv]

Maybe it’s the overall feel? Where it goes from mediocre to locked up without much in between?

That's about it. Goes from not really stopping to lock all 4 wheels and sliding (and still not stopping), without much more pedal input.

 

[John_parkeriv]

If you can lock up all 4 with 25% pedal (I"m assuming pressure with your leg at 25%) but you want discs so you can still lock up your brakes but take more leg pressure to do it. ????
Discs take more pressure than drums. If your little 10" drums can lock up the tires on asphalt with as little as 25% pedal effort they are working GREAT.

The problem is, yes, they're making enough pressure to stop the wheels; but not the truck

 

[stupidboy]

I say Chevy disc since you’re working with a Dana 30. Like dirt donk said, all of it is available new even if you buy individual parts. I would say it is the most inexpensive

 

[DirtDonk]

Well, then that’s back to a tire/traction problem. If the wheels are locked up and it’s not stopping, you’ve got a traction problem more than a brake ability problem.
Granted, they should be more controllable than it sounds like yours are. But just shy of locking up is about us much stopping power as you can get.
Those 35 inch tires are just plain big tires on a small vehicle like this. Maybe if you are lifted more than 3 1/2 inches, or your shocks are too soft, and you’re having too much weight shift and it’s just not letting the tires grip?
Be great if it was that simple. But probably not…
How much lift do you have on it? And how big of the bore was the master cylinder?
And speaking of the tires, what are they and just how old are they?
Are they still fifteen inch, or larger?

 

[John_parkeriv]

What are you trying to improve? Braking effort or something else? Keeping all 4 corners from locking up will decrease your stopping distance- that's ABS.

Mainly wanting better brake performance, or at least being able to stop sooner. I have an 87 F250 with similar size tires, a similar braking setup, and weighs CONSIDERABLY more; but it's able to stop quicker than my bronco. The ABS also never worked on that truck.

 

[John_parkeriv]

How much lift do you have on it? And how big of the bore was the master cylinder?

2.5" suspension with a 2" body. Can't remember cylinder bore off the top of my head, but it and the booster are from a mid 80's Ch*vy 3500.

And speaking of the tires, what are they and just how old are they?

Maxxis Razr Mud Terrains, they were take-off's from a local fellas J**p with about 90% tread left. They're from 2017.

Are they still fifteen inch, or larger?

315/70r17, think it came out to about 34.5 standard size

 

[Oldtimer]

What is age, condition and type (metalic, semi metalic, organic) of existing brake shoe friction material?
Are the glazed or burned?

 

[John_parkeriv]

What is age, condition and type (metalic, semi metalic, organic) of existing brake shoe friction material?

Less than a year old with only about 50 miles tops on them. Organic

Are the glazed or burned?

If you mean how do they look, as mentioned above they're near new with no signs of abnormal wear or excess heat.

 

[gnpenning]

Something to think about is properly sized brakes for the application. As you mentioned with your F250. A class 8 tractor bobtailing without a trailer has a hard time stopping due to the brakes locking up, put a loaded trailer on it and everything changes for the better. They are designed to be used when loaded.

You have real world experience with it.

 

[73azbronco]

Howdy y'all,
Doing a shake down run on my 66 on my street. Hydroboost but stock brakes. Testing regular braking and emergency braking. Normal braking really isn't great, and anything over 25% pedal makes all four wheels lock up. My guess is the poor little 66 10" drums can't handle the 35's . Looking at going to disks to help solve the problem. Had a few in mind, but I'm wanting to see what y'all think (If you think that's the problem at all). Any experience, headaches, or praises of any kit would be appreciated.

Originally wanted to do the Ch*vy swap, but 4x4 blazers and K10's are LONG since gone from my local boneyards and marketplace.

Thanks!

Lets stop here a seconds, you mention all 4 wheels lock and that the brakes can't handle the 35s?

So if you lock a wheel, the brakes work fine, lock all 4 at once, brakes work great.

EB does not have anti skid. It will never feel like a 2024 anything, but if you are locking up the wheels, your brakes are by definition, working.

What tires are you using?

 

[m_m70]

Normal braking really isn't great

Why?? What's happening under "normal braking"?

anything over 25% pedal makes all four wheels lock up.

25% of the "throw" of the pedal or leg/foot pressure

I'm trying to figure out if what you mean is your driving along, want to come to a stop, apply your brakes and your truck starts to slow down a little but anymore pressure will cause the brakes to lock up?? As if there is no happy medium??

 

[Broncobowsher]

I would start with making sure the drum brakes are properly adjusted.

What got me to change from drums to disks wasn't the lack of locking up, they could. It wasn't the control, didn't have hydroboost yet and found the drums to be controlable. The issue I had was bringing it down from highway speeds into the front gate at work. I came in a little hot one day because the drums with just 33" tires would fade on me. 60-20MPH was fine, that last 20-0 was sketchy. Adding a booster won't fix that. A booster amplifies everything in the brakes, good and bad.

Since you now lock all 4 brakes with ease, You should have been able to do that before, just with more effort. Typically people have a small issue before the booster is added. A slight pull when braking. Add the booster and that slight pull is a strong pull. It amplifies everything in the brakes.

If you want front disk, which is probably good for 35" tires, your options are one of the GM based kits that have existed for 30+ years. They still make enough parts you can piece on together and don't even need to visit a salvage yard. Wilwood makes a kit as well for the Dana 30. Being you have a '66, presuming it has a stock axle (you didn't state otherwise), those are your options.

Will it fix locking brakes, doubtful. I remember locking my disk braked hydroboosted rig by pressing on the brake pedal with 2 fingers. It was a learning curve to go from manual brakes to hydroboost. At first I felt it was undrivable. Later I learned. Let a friend drive it who had never driven a Bronco before, he didn't have any issues with the hydroboost. It might just be that you need to learn how a Bronco with hydroboost is different from what you have been driving for however long?

 

[ksagis]

Can't remember cylinder bore off the top of my head, but it and the booster are from a mid 80's Ch*vy 3500.

I’ll bet the bore size might be too big. Guessing it might be 1 3/8”?

That would def degrade pedal feel.

 

[John_parkeriv]

Why?? What's happening under "normal braking"?

It goes from not really wanting to stop to locking all four wheels almost immediately. Normal braking (or just before full lock), still takes WAY to long to stop under any normal conditions. Going 35 and pressing the brake all they way to just before lock takes about 15-20 seconds to come to a full stop.

25% of the "throw" of the pedal or leg/foot pressure

throw of the pedal

I'm trying to figure out if what you mean is your driving along, want to come to a stop, apply your brakes and your truck starts to slow down a little but anymore pressure will cause the brakes to lock up?? As if there is no happy medium??

Exactly, most rigs I've driven you have to REALLY want to stop to get all four to lock up. As mentioned above, just trying to come to a normal stop causes lockup; anything less and it takes forever to stop moving.

 

[John_parkeriv]

EB does not have anti skid. It will never feel like a 2024 anything, but if you are locking up the wheels, your brakes are by definition, working.

What tires are you using?

True, and I reckon it'd be more headache than its worth to retrofit ABS into one of these. I mentioned the tires in a previous post, "Maxxis Razr Mud Terrains, 315/70r17"